The Sabre's Shame
by Requiem For Absolution
Summary: When Diego loses control of himself because of his hunger, he makes the mistake of attacking the herd. Now overcome by shame, he's hurt, lost and alone - that is, alone with a sabre pack that are hunting the herd he just betrayed...
1. The Mistake

I do not own Ice Age, nor the characters within. Do not sue me.

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Chapter One: Mistake

_My name is Diego.  
I'm a sabre-toothed tiger.  
I'm going to die. _

_It's not like I'm depressed or anything. I'm just hungry. No matter what I do, I can't seem to hunt anymore – my 'herd' keep accidentally stopping me from getting my prey. The less I eat, the weaker I get, and the weaker I get, the less I can eat. It's a downwards spiral, one that's eventually going to lead to my death if I can't get any food.  
I need to eat meat. I'm a carnivore. A carnivore in the midst of a herd that eat whatever green leaves they can get their grubby paws on. _

_If I don't eat soon, my instincts are going to take over, and I'm going to attack them. I've actually started sleep-prowling in search of food – I woke up last night with Sid's scrawny throat in my mouth. He's incredibly lucky to be alive now, but that doesn't matter, does it? _

_Yeah. It does. Of course it does. They're… my pack… herd. They're family. Friends. Not food. _

_I can see them from where I am now. They're scattered around a sort of sinkhole in the ground, where the cliffs are raised up around them. There's only one way for them to get in and out of their 'home' – but any sabre could see that all you have to do would be to cut around the edge of the hollow and jump in, and you'd have the perfect ambush. Then you could eat… _

_I've got to stop thinking like this. I'm not going to – I can't – attack the herd. They're my friends, packs of easy meat…  
__**No! **_

_I can't think like that! _

_I wish I'd stayed with Soto. Maybe then this never would have happened. Oh, I don't know! I need to eat! _

_I can't take this anymore! I need to eat! I don't care who or what it is! I need food! _

***

Diego's eyes flashed luminescent emerald as he launched himself down into the hollow, a ferocious snarl ripping from his throat. Peaches was right beneath him, and it was her that he was aiming for. She looked up once –

(_terrified hazel eyes staring up) _

– and he landed directly in front of her, knocking her over and pinning her with one paw, the other going to slit open her throat –

(_pathetic squeaks for help escaping her) _

– and then the blinding oblivion of pain took over his body as Manny used his tusks to throw Diego away from the baby mammoth. Not caring, not thinking, Diego leapt at Manny and tore a vicious cut in his thick coat. Manny let out a cry of pain, falling back two steps, and Diego was about to turn and pounce at Peaches again when Sid of all people showed up.

It was Sid's expression – hopelessly lost and confused – that snapped Diego out of his hunting trance. His eyes flashed back to their normal hazel-green, and he froze in the middle of the dwelling, realizing what he'd done. Manny roared "What do you think you're doing?!"

Diego let out a low cry as he saw the blood seeping from Manny's side, and then Peaches let out a terrified scream as he took a step closer, scuttling for cover behind her father. Diego felt sick self-hatred well up inside him, and cried out again. Then without even realizing what he was doing, he sprinted out of the clearing and left the dazed pack –_herd_– behind him, vanishing into a forest to the west.

Back in the hollow, Crash, Eddie and Ellie had returned. Ellie immediately saw the wound, and Peaches' terrified look, and asked "What happened?!"

Manny told her in a shaking voice "Diego attacked."

Those two words made Crash and Eddie freeze with horror, before darting over to Peaches, and Ellie look at him in disbelief. "He did _what_?!"

"He … attacked. Peaches. Me. Then ran."

Ellie turned around and looked out the entry-way. "…Why did he do that?"

Crash spluttered indignantly. "What you mean is, will he come back?!"

A cold shiver ran through Manny, and almost on instinct, the herd moved closer together, terrified of what would happen if Diego returned.

***

Diego kept running until he was far, far away from the pack, in an area of land which he hadn't ever been in before. He'd ran until nightfall, and then kept running, going as fast and as far as he could before he'd pushed himself to the limit. He knew he could still track his way back to the pack, but maybe, now, he'd just leave them alone, instead of attacking them like _some kind of monster_!!! He'd managed to catch a gazelle and eat it, for the first time in weeks, and the food had immediately cleared his thoughts. He could remember Peaches' terrified look, the pathetic squeaks she'd been making, Manny's outrage and fury… His own claws scraping across Manny's skin…

Assaulted by a blinding wave of self-hate, Diego savagely hit the snow-covered ground with his paw. A loud _crack _came from his limb, but he could barely feel the pain over the sickening sense of shame that was welling in his lean body.

Manny had saved his life. He'd given him more chances than he deserved. And in return, Diego had attacked him and his daughter.

Diego shuddered, then let out a pained groan, beginning to search for somewhere to sleep. He was still in the forest, but a large cliff had was running in a north-east direction, blocking his road. He was in a small, natural clearing, and a black hole of a cave extended into the cliff face. The scent of another sabre pack was strong, but he was almost beyond caring what happened to himself now. He shrugged, then lay down where he was.

At least he couldn't hurt anybody he cared about now…


	2. The Pack

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Chapter Two: The Pack

A pack of sabre's warily roamed around the herd's hollow, eyes widening as they realized just how long they could feed them for… Weeks, if not months…

Without a visible cue, they turned tail and loped away from the herd, heading for a clearing about forty metres away. In some aspects, it was a typical sabre pack; in other aspects, it was totally unique. Made up of four males and three females, each sabre had a valuable role, and each knew exactly how the other's around it would react, fight, think, and talk. They were invaluable to each other, but that wasn't to say that they usually got on well…

The current leader of the pack was a tawny female, named Akira. She was the one that kept the pack together through thick and thin. If it hadn't been for her, they would have split long ago. Her haunted-looking emerald eyes were softly glowing in the dark, raking over the other members of the pack, studying and keeping watch on them. Even though her body was covered in painful-looking scars, she was still a ferocious fighter, and commanded the total respect of the other members of the pack – if any one of them disobeyed her, she'd attack them, and until the day that one of them could fight back and win, she'd rule the pack.

The greatest threat to her reign was her brother, Shi. Not that he had any interest in becoming pack leader –he hated the idea of being in charge– but he was only other sabre that held the ultimate respect from the rest of the pack. Lean and powerful, he was the oldest member of the pack by a month, but nothing in his appearance gave away any sign of age, only signs of a recent fight. One of his fangs, the right one, had snapped two inches down from his mouth, and a long scratch extended across his left side. He was the strategist of the pack, the one who staked out kills and came up with ideas to kill their prey. He was almost a role model to the younger tigers, and there was only one person who would dare argue with him – Silver.

Silver, in total contrast to her aforementioned siblings, was actually quite gentle, usually letting other people take the kill and waiting until they'd finished with it before having her share. She acted as rear-guard, quicksilver eyes scanning the night, and grey coat slipping through the darkness with ease. She was more nimble than some of the other sabres, and a faster runner, so she often teamed up with the twins to scout.

The twins… Damian and Lars. Identical in almost every aspect, the only difference in their physical appearance was Lars' twisted forepaw. He'd been born with it, and he'd learnt to live with it, but it still affected his fighting and running abilities. The two acted as scouts for the rest of the pack, so they were often away, but whenever a hunt or a fight was happening, they'd be defending the pack to within an inch of their lives. Totally loyal to Akira, and in absolute awe of Shi, the only things that could shock them out of their casual arrogance was a threat to the pack, or an internal disturbance – disturbances that usually came from either Alexia or Ray.

Ray was the youngest member of the pack, as well as the smallest. However, he was easily the most brutal and savage – in fact, before he'd joined the pack, he'd killed his own family. He was the fighter of the pack; the one who killed first and ate later. Akira used him as a 'shock trooper', so to speak, letting him run ahead of the pack and take out any possible threats, before linking up with them later. He was invaluable in a tight situation, but on a day-to-day basis, he could be a pain. Especially when it came down to questions of rivalry with Damian…

The last member of the pack, Alexia, was the 'pack beauty'. When they were planning big kills, like trying to take down a mammoth, they'd send her in a couple of days beforehand. She could entrance any sentient animal with her luminous eyes and sweet voice, but her beauty hid an unexpected savagery to rival Ray's. She was the only sabre totally in control of her instincts, able to go without food for weeks on end, and still be sitting next to an easy kill, waiting for the pack.

The seven of them were currently scattered around a clearing. Damian and Lars were slowly pacing around the edges, keeping lookout for any threats, and Shi had his eyes closed, thinking through a plan. Ray and Alexia were talking in low tones, while Silver sat alone upon a rock. Akira was watching the rest of the pack, exchanging ideas with Shi.

"Alright, everyone," she said in a low tone. The rest of the pack turned to her, and she continued "We've got a plan. It's going to take a while, but I think it's worth it. Agreed?"

There were murmurs of assent from everyone, and Shi took up the thread of leadership for a moment. "This idea rests entirely upon Alexia. If she can get the entire herd sedated before we attack, we'll have an easier fight. And given all that's happened, I think that's exactly what we need at the moment. Easy meat. We've been through hell and back, I think it's time we can try and rest for a while. We need to check out our turf, make sure it's still ours, get some food, and then just rest."

Akira started talking again. "While Alexia's busy, Damian, Silver and Lars, you guys need to go and check out the land. Look for any new underground entries. Shi and I are going to be tracking down any other prey we can. And Ray, you're going to be watching over Alexia, alright?"

Ray bared his teeth in a grin.

"Time to move out. Damian, Silver, Lars, take alternate routes and see if you can pick up any scents. Ray, you're with us. Alexia… Take care." Her eyes met the other female's for a moment, and Alexia winked.

"Now go!" Shi cried, and moving together, the pack stood and split into five different directions; Alexia disappearing back to the herd, Shi, Ray and Akira running together; and Damian, Lars and Silver vanishing into different areas, noses to the ground, checking for scents and mentally memorizing them as they were found. Despite everything, Akira grinned to herself in the night, inwardly proud of her pack – the only sabre pack that never gave up on their prey.


	3. Trouble

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Chapter Three: Trouble

Diego wasn't asleep, but nor was he fully awake. He was caught somewhere between the dream world and reality, swimming in a delirium of pain and sickening emotions. He thought he could dimly hear voices, but in the shifting state of being half-asleep, he couldn't be sure.

"Hey! Everyone, be quiet!"

"Who _is _that?"

"Isn't that…?"

"Raze? It couldn't be! He's dead! We saw him die!"

"It's Raze! It has to be!"

"Silver, I'm telling you, it can't be!"

_What…? Those voices belong to sabres! And the first one, a female, everyone else was quiet after she told them to be – so she's the pack leader! How could…? _

Diego warily opened his eyes, blinking in shock as he saw six sabres cautiously standing about a meter or so back from him. All of them were looking directly at him, all of them looking as stunned as he felt. One of them, a female with a curious greyish coat, took a step forward, narrowing her silver eyes. "Raze?"

Temper frayed by pain, Diego snapped "My name is Diego."

"I told you," a young tiger at the back of the pack said, slightly contemptuous. "It's not Raze."

"Well, duh, we just established that!" the silver-eyed tiger snapped back. Another female with haunted-looking emerald eyes and scars raked across her body walked towards Diego, studying him critically. He guessed she was the pack leader. "Why are you here?"

"I … my pack died, and I wound up here. I hurt my paw." Diego half-lied, leaving out a lot of details. Two twin sabres sniffed him cautiously, then looked back at the pack leader and shrugged. Another silent signal of some sort seemed to pass between them, and one of the twins said softly "Raze was our original pack leader. We got lost somewhere, and we think he was killed. Akira took over then."

Diego nodded once, suddenly understanding the pain which was hidden beneath the surface of the pack – invisible, but you could still feel it if you probed enough. They were all troubled by it – for a good reason. To lose a pack leader, even a bad one, was an awful experience. Once a sabre pack had a leader, they'd (usually) follow them into hell and back. If they were a good leader, they'd bring you back out alive. If they were a bad one, you'd end up on your own. Or, in Diego's case, killing them. He felt sick with self-hate again, overwhelmed by running into another sabre pack just as he'd left his herd. He already felt more at ease with them then he ever had with the herd, and to be perfectly honest, he half-wanted to join them. Diego said slowly "I'm sorry for snapping before, and for your loss. Where were you lost?"

The twins exchanged glances. "You probably won't believe us," one of them said shiftily, and the other nodded. Diego let out a loose laugh, thinking of everything he'd seen.

"Try me."

"There's like an underworld, out there. Dinosaurs live there." One of the twins said, eyes silently daring Diego to laugh again. He didn't. In a totally serious tone, he said "I believe you. I've been there."

"Well, that's where we were," a harsher, younger, voice broke in. The youngest tiger in the pack stalked over. "We were pinned, and Raze stayed behind to make sure we could get out safely. Then a rock fall broke him off from us, and we never saw him again. We only got out yesterday."

Diego nodded, and said softly "Yeah, I know what it's like."

One of the twins said "I'm Lars. This is Damian, Ray, and that there is Shi. Next to him is Silver, and beside her is Akira. Akira's our pack leader."

"I guessed."

Damian wondered "Do you have a pack?"

"Not anymore," Diego said shortly. "They died." He didn't establish the difference between a _pack _and a _herd_, instead glancing towards Akira. "What are they talking about?"

"Probably whether or not to ask you to stay," Ray guessed. "If you've already told Akira that you lost your pack, then she's going to want you to stay."

Diego laughed bitterly. "I'd like to, if I could…" he didn't finish the sentence, but he mentally thought: _If I could take back everything that I've done to wind up at this point. Just steer Soto away from Manny, hang with that pack, or maybe even just carry out the plan to attack Manny anyway. It seems so __**stupid**__, what I've done now, looking back at it with the perspective of a true sabre. You lose that kind of mentality, that kind of instinct, when you're hanging around with a herd. I've saved their lives, they've saved mine, but it seems so … insignificant… when you compare it to being part of a pack. I swear, if you leave a pack, you may as well leave half of yourself behind. _

He was shaken out of his thoughts by Akira walking over to him, and asking "How's your paw?"

"Sprained, badly."

"Can you hunt?"

"I don't know. Not at the moment. It hurts." Diego hated sounding weak, but it was true. Akira nodded in understanding.

"It's okay… Listen, we were wondering if you were interested in joining us, temporarily or not. It's a predator's world out there, and without a pack, you'd be easy meat. So, do you want to?"

Diego nodded once, but cautiously asked "What are you hunting at the moment?"

"There's a herd to the east, and they've got a kind of home. It's made up of three mammoths, two possums and a sloth."

Diego's jaw hit the ground. Akira looked surprised at his reaction."What?"

He realized his mistake instantly and said "Three… mammoths?"

Akira bought it, and shrugged mildly. "Two adults, one child. Strange for a herd, but you never know… Do you want to join us for the kill, or are you going to leave, or…?"

Diego was caught on the spot. With the entire pack staring at him, there was only one response he could give. "Please."

Akira gave him a pleased smile, and Diego hastily executed the equivalent of a sabre's bow. "Thanks, Akira."


	4. Faux

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Chapter Four: Faux 

Alexia crept into the herd, moving with exaggerated stealth that in reality, was louder than her normal walk. She knew it would be just loud enough to wake the herd up, possibly attack her, and then let her pour out her sad story – one which would have them swinging off her words, and invite her to stay with them. She was accustomed to herds like this, albeit not in such a strange mixture. A sloth, two possums and three mammoths. Strange… There had to be a story behind that, but at the moment, she wasn't interested in it. All she had to do was get them to trust her, and that was more than easy enough.

She was in the middle of the herd when it happened. The father mammoth woke up, saw her, and then slowly –or at least, she thought it was slow, he probably thought it was fast – used his tusks to throw her against the wall and trumpeted a warning to the rest of the herd. Alexia hit the wall and fell to the ground, pretending to fall unconscious for a moment. While she was 'knocked out', she heard a feminine voice ask "Who's that?"

"I don't know, but she was coming towards us, like she was going to attack. I don't want any sabres here! Not now!"

"Manny, you don't even know if she was coming after Peaches."

"I don't care!"

"She could be hurt!"

Manny seemed to relent. "Fine… What do we do now?"

"Apologize and see what she wants."

"And if she attacks? Ellie, we don't know…"

"Hit her again," Ellie said simply. Alexia knew all she needed to at that point, and feigned weakly groaning and stirring slightly, before opening her eyes and taking in the scene.

The two mammoths were watching her closely, their child behind them. A sloth was sleeping over to the right, and two possums were over to the left. Manny, the male mammoth, demanded "What were you doing?"

Alexia let out a low moan of fake pain, then said groggily "I … what?"

"What's your name?" Ellie asked softly.

"Alexia." The female sabre replied, then let her eyes fall on Peaches, and said gently "You have a beautiful daughter. What are your names?"

"Ellie, and this here is Manny."

Alexia nodded and stood up. "I guess you want me out of here."

Manny began to say something, but Ellie cut him off. "What were you doing here?"

Alexia shrugged sadly. "Just admiring your family. It amazes me how beautiful families can be when they're all together, and your daughter is truly gorgeous. I mean, after my family tried to kill me, and my pack abandoned me, maybe I'm just going soft, but –"

Ellie cut her off. "Your family tried to kill you?"

"Yeah. Called me a wimp… And then the pack told me not to come back to them." Alexia's tone was dripping with sadness and hurt, and she sighed. "I guess I'd better be going." Her luminous, dreamy eyes locked onto Peaches. "But you really do have a beautiful daughter."

With that passing comment, she shrugged, and began to limp away, knowing full well that the soft-hearted prey would stop her. They did.

"Alexia!"

The sabre turned back, looking half-hopeful, half-worried. Manny slowly apologized "I'm sorry for hitting you. I just saw you there, and after Diego… Well, I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"Diego?" Alexia questioned, genuinely curious now.

Ellie replied "He used to stay with us, but he attacked Peaches –my daughter– and then ran away. We haven't seen him since."

"Maybe he wasn't that good of a friend, then?" Alexia asked. Manny looked torn between defiance and doubt, and he eventually settled on saying "He was, until yesterday."

Alexia shrugged, and sounding genuinely caring, explained "Sabres often lose control of themselves to their instincts, especially around families and food."

"Like you?" Manny asked wryly.

"Family, yes. You've seen that already. But when it comes to food, I'm totally in control."

Ellie nodded once, then hesitantly asked "Would you like to stay for a little while longer?"

Manny shot her an uncertain look. "You'd trust her…?"

"She said it herself, Manny. She's in control."

"The last sabre who said that attacked my daughter," Manny muttered, taking one threatening step towards Alexia, who allowed herself to look pathetically helpless, tripping over her own paws and locking eyes with him.

"Please, Manny. I know what I can and I can't do." Her eyes bore into him, carrying a sweet illusion of trust with them. "Give me a chance. I don't have anyone else to turn to…"

Manny stopped short, and Ellie came up behind him. "You heard her, she's not going to hurt us. You're welcome to stay if you want, Alexia."

The sabre's icy heart came close to shattering when she saw the ultimate trust in the mammoth's eyes, but she steeled it in under a second and put on a happy face, inwardly shaking her head in disbelief at the mammals naivety.

_Sweet, blissful ignorance… _

_Sweet, blissful blood… _


	5. Hypnotized

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Chapter Five: Hypnotized 

Ray paced relentlessly around the pack, his movements sharp and jerky with tension and hunger. All eyes were on him, and he didn't care. He was in a horrible mood, the result of him losing a gazelle earlier in the day after it had evaded him by leaping into a pool of water. Ray, along with some of the other sabres, had a deep terror of water, and had given up the hunt. Now furious at himself for his weakness, he was taking it out by driving everyone else crazy with his incessant pacing. Akira was gritting her teeth, Shi growling low in his throat. The twins didn't particularly care, as they were only semi-conscious, after one of their play fights that had turned serious all too fast. Silver was lying alone, watching Ray, as was Diego.

The young sabre turned around sharply, beginning to stalk in the opposite direction. Shi finally snapped "Do you mind?!", and bore the brunt of the glare he received from Ray, who snarled in return "I can't help it! I'm hungry, I'm stressed, and I can't see what we're waiting for!

Shi looked irritated. "Maybe the fact that Alexia has to build up trust with them first before we attack? Maybe the fact that Diego can barely walk? Maybe the fact that the twins are barely conscious?"

Ray let a low growl out. "I could take them down."

Shi gave him a withering look. "Really?" he asked, tone dripping with sarcasm. "Then why don't you?"

Ray fell into a hunting stance, baring his fangs for a second before an idea occurred to him. "Can I at least see what Alexia's doing?"

Shi and Akira exchanged looks, before mutually nodding. Akira told him "Tell Alexia to use the ambush tactic. And for the record… You're not strong enough to take them all down by yourself."

Ray winced, before glancing at the twins. "I'm stronger than them, at least," he muttered. "Weaklings…"

Lars looked up, the sting of the insult registering through the pain of the fight. "Hey!"  
Damian added "At least we didn't kill our family!"

Bam. Ray was back in his hunting stance, and without a second passing, the twins were on their paws and mirroring his stance. Ray mocked, "At least I wasn't born a cripple!"

Lars fell back, outraged, but before the fight could continue, Akira commanded softly "That's enough. Ray, if you can keep yourself in check until Alexia's ready, you can start the hunt when it comes time for the kill. Alright?"

Ray's eyes opened wide, and he turned back to Akira, looking shocked. "Really?"

She inclined her head, and a look of fierce, wild happiness passed over Ray's face before he grinned, and launched himself into the night.

Diego felt like he'd swallowed shattered glass as he watched Ray leave. He didn't let any of his writhing emotions show, but he could feel them snaking through his body.

_They know the way back to the herd. They're going to attack them, going to kill them, going to eat them… Would the herd even want me back, presuming I could warn them in time? As much as I hate to think it, they probably wouldn't. The look on Peaches face when I attacked her… The look on Manny's face… Crash, Eddie and Ellie must hate me. And Sid, I don't even want to think about Sid. He'd either hate me, or have forgotten already. He's protective of Peaches, but that's not to say that he's exactly good at remembering things. _

_I don't think I can go back to my herd. I don't think they'd want me back. Akira seems genuine enough, and she's only doing what all sabres have to do to survive; prey on the weak. Unlike Soto… the pack and I have been getting on fairly well… Why shouldn't I stay here? All I'd have to do would be to warn the herd, and then stay back and let my pack do the rest. _

_**My **__pack. I'm even thinking as though they're mine. The look on Peaches' face when I attacked her… I can't get that out of my mind! I wish I could apologize to her, her and everyone else. _

_I feel so guilty, and yet, so justified. I'm a sabre. I have to kill to live, but I shouldn't have gone after my friends. Or the animals who were once my friends, anyway. _

_My paw hurts so much… I wonder how Lars deals with his twisted forepaw. I'll have to ask him… He's one of the nicest sabres I've ever met – in fact, all of them except Ray are, and I can understand why he's like that. _

_I'm beginning to miss the herd, but I'm beginning to feel comfortable with my pack. What am I supposed to do? My God, I'm so confused. _

***

The moonlight shone down onto the land below, the light reflecting off the snow making it almost as bright as day. Alexia's eyes glittered in the darkness, their colour currently a dark sapphire to reflect the dark night around them. She wasn't tired at all, despite the fact that it was almost midnight now. She was slowly walking around the hollow, half-hoping for someone from the pack would show up.

"What are you doing, Alexia?"

The sabre didn't jump, instead coolly turning to face Manny. "I get nightmares, and I can't sleep," she lied easily. Manny seemed to soften slightly.

"I do as well."

Alexia glanced up, a questioning look on her face. Manny sighed. "I've never told anyone this before, but Diego and Sid ended up finding out anyway. When I was younger, I used to have another family. They were killed by humans. Sometimes, I dream of their deaths."

Alexia absent-mindedly started pacing again. "That's awful… Why can't those two-legged murderers just keep to themselves? They're worse than sabres!"

"Not all of them are that bad. That little kid we saved was fine."

"One kid can't change the future," Alexia reflected. "Look… I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What?"

"Diego."

"What about him?"

"Are you so sure that he's on your side?" Alexia prowled towards Manny, locking eyes with him. "I mean, he tried to kill your daughter."

Manny glanced at her. "I don't know," he admitted honestly, looking Alexia in the eyes, and then freezing.

Those eyes… luminescent, shining with the light of the moon, glowing in the darkness. He felt as though he was falling into their depths, as though they could see straight through to his soul. Alexia's purring voice seemed to be echoing all around him, sending him into a spinning delirium.

"_Diego's scheming against you. He hates you. He attacked your daughter. He hates you. Don't you understand that? He wanted to kill your flesh and blood, the single most important thing in your life. No matter what he may have said or done in the past, that one act proves that he's your worst enemy." _

"No," Manny tried to argue, but the enchanting allure of those gorgeous eyes stole his voice away. He couldn't think properly, he couldn't concentrate, he couldn't see anything but those glittering eyes.

"_You still think of him as a friend? Why? He's probably laughed at you, laughed at your weakness, laughed at your idea of having a family. Why would he care about you? All he wants to do is eat. No matter who or what they are. Can you really trust him? Do you really think he trusts you, that he actually likes you? If you do, you're wrong."_

Shining eyes, reflecting the velvet darkness of the night around them, the light of the stars caught and kept in their enthralling beauty.

"_You're a smart guy, Manny. Work it out for yourself. Diego's just going to be a terror to your child, a threat to her health. If you keep away from Diego, you might just save her life." _

Save her life… of course… he'd save her life… Diego didn't like him, Diego never had liked him. Diego was just playing on his emotions the whole time…

"_You'd be doing yourself a favour. I can protect you there. I'm your friend. I'll look after Peaches. You can trust me. But only me. Remember, Diego only wanted to kill you. I want to help." _

And with that comment, Alexia looked away, releasing Manny from her 'spell'. The mammoth blinked and shook his head slightly.

"What… What just happened?"

Alexia affected a confused, sleepy look. "Hm?"

Manny shook his head. "I must have imagined it. Don't worry."

"Sleep well," Alexia said.

"You too… My friend."


	6. Discovery

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Chapter Six: Discovery 

_When you're surrounded by animals that shouldn't exist, you know you're in trouble. We'd known that we were in trouble from the moment we fell down into the underworld. Now we're surrounded by a loose semi-circle of Allosaurus'. We were so close, so close to the way out of this horrible place – the dinosaurs between us and it were the only problem. _

_Raze was at the front of the pack, snarling at the dinosaurs to stay back. Damian and Lars were to my right, more dangerous and threatening than I'd ever seen them. Ray and Silver were on my left, actually working together for once, holding their ground steadfastly and not letting any of the Allosaurus' come near us. I was at the back of the pack, with Shi. We were in the least danger, but we were still terrified – or at least, I was. Shi was nothing but furious; he wanted nothing more to attack, but he knew if he did, he'd die. The fact that imminent attack would result in imminent death didn't stop him from feeling like a coward, though._

_**Thump. **_

_**Thump. **_

_**Thump. **_

_The Allosaurus' took a collective step back. Raze dared to break eye-contact with them, looking around us for the source of the noise, asking "What's going on?" _

_A strangled whimper came from Silver. Ray's jaw was hanging open in shock. In front of them, only meters away, stood the mother of all dinosaurs – the Tyrannosaurs Rex. _

_We ran._

_There was nothing else we could do. The Allosaurus', so threatening a moment ago, now looked just as terrified as we did, scattering across the rock pinnacle and jumping down the sides. Even as we fled, though, Raze stayed back. He held his ground, turning around and glaring down the T. Rex, even as it began to reach down towards him. There was a massive rumbling, like thunder in the sky, and a high-pitched shriek coming from above. Time seemed to slow down. _

_I screamed. _

_Raze looked back towards me, just once, his face set in an expression I'll never forget. It wasn't heroic or noble or brave; it was scared, uncertain, but still determined. Then he faced the dinosaur again, yelling "GET OUT OF HERE!!!" _

_It was a direct order. We had to leave. I was the last one to get out, a massive amount of rocks falling behind me and blocking the entrance completely. _

_We managed to get out alive. _

_Raze, to the best of our knowledge, didn't. _

*******

Alexia woke up with a sharp jolt of painful remembrance as the last tendrils of the nightmare … memory… left her. Adrenaline was already going through her body, despite the fact that it was nothing more than a memory that had incited it. With nothing more than a need to burn excess energy, she got to her paws and started pacing the clearing.

"Alexia!"

It was barely more than a hiss, but Alexia reacted instantly, whirling around and facing the direction it had came from. Ray stalked out from the shadows, his body pressed almost to the ground.

"Ray…"

"We need to talk," he murmured. Alexia inclined her head and they left the clearing together, before she asked "So, what's going on?"

"I'm _hungry_," the younger tiger complained. "How far have you gotten?"

"Not far enough, but I've made a start," she told him. "Calm down. They'll be ours within the week."

"Good." Ray looked slightly more cheerful, asking "How did you convince them to let you into their herd?"

"They used to keep another sabre with them. He left a few days ago, but they're still trusting enough of him to give me a chance. Diego or whatever his name was obviously made a good impression."

"_Diego?"_ Ray looked startled. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I… think I know him…" Ray lamely explained, his eyes still wide. "Anyway. I'd better get back to the pack before dawn. Bye!"

Before Alexia could reply, Ray had vanished into the night.

_Diego, you have some damn good explaining to do, and you'd better hope to the high heavens that I don't sell you out to Akira… _


	7. Realization

**Ƭ****ħє ŞąЬяє'****ƨ**** Şħąmє**

Chapter Seven: Realization 

Ray walked back to the pack, padding softly over fallen branches and snow. Most of the pack, by this time, were asleep. The only two who were still awake were unsurprisingly, Shi and Akira. They were lying side-by-side, silently watching the landscape around them. Ray inclined his head deferentially, informing them "The herd are still in position. They haven't gone anywhere. Alexia says that she'll have them completely under control in the next three days."

"Good," Shi murmured. "We can finally hunt…" He slid his eyes shut, without saying goodnight to either of the sabres. Akira licked his nose, before glancing back at Ray. "Thanks for telling us."

Ray shrugged, sabre-style. "Don't worry about it."

He looked back at Shi, thoughts drifting to the elder tiger, the only one of them who held any influence or sway over him. It was because of Shi, and only Shi, that he followed Akira. It was because of Shi that he'd joined the pack. Unlike the other sabres, he didn't see Raze as a leader; Raze, to Ray, had been just as ignorant and irritating as his family had been before he'd slaughtered them. Shi, however, had always been the enigma; polite, quiet and controlled, a perfect killer.

Ray, young and inexperienced, had nobody else to look up to. Sure, Damian and Lars were there, but they were only a few years older than him and far too determined and arrogant for their own good. Akira, Silver and Alexia were all flawed in their own ways – Silver with her gentle nature; Akira with her haunted memories and tortured body; Alexia with her contempt for anyone outside of the pack.

No, Shi was the only one he really respected.

"Ray?"

"Yes?" the sabre answered automatically, looking back at Akira.

"What's wrong?" she asked, concern lacing her voice.

"Nothing," he lied smoothly.

"Don't give me that crap. What's going on?"

"_Nothing_," he repeated, more insistent now. "I'll tell you about it later if it's still a concern."

Akira gave him an appraising look. "If you're holding out on information…"

"I'm not, alright?!" Ray snapped. Akira rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say. But we work as a pack, Ray, and if you betray us, we will kill you."

With that warning hanging in the air, she slid her eyes shut and curled up besides Shi. Ray didn't dare to go near her after what she'd just said, instead slinking over to Diego and waiting for her to fall asleep.

It didn't take long.

As soon as he was completely sure she was completely unconscious, he slammed his paw down on Diego's throat.

"Argh!"

Diego woke up immediately as Ray snarled "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Tell you what?" Diego gritted his teeth, forcing the words out between them, fighting to keep breathing.

"You used to be with the herd that we're tracking! You traitor!"

Diego froze, and Ray increased the pressure on his throat, going in for the killing blow before a sharp cry tore through the silent night.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"


	8. Torn

**Ƭ****ħє ŞąЬяє'****ƨ**** Şħąmє**

Chapter Eight: Torn

Ray glanced up at the voice, finding an incensed-looking Damian staring at him. The other sabres were still asleep, for which he was incredibly thankful, but if any of them woke up, or if God forbid, Akira woke up, he was so utterly and unbelievably dead… Especially after he'd snapped at her like that.

"Damian, I know you hate me, I know you don't trust me, but just for once, listen to me!" Ray demanded.

Damian looked sceptical, already moving to wake Lars.

"_Damian!" _Ray pleaded.

There was a sudden silence, and then Diego snarled "Tell him and I'll rip your throat out."

Damian froze. "Okay… What the heck is going on here?"

Ray didn't reply, his face twisted in a silent howl of pain; Diego had struck him across his back, tearing a deep gash in it. While the younger tiger was still silent, Diego snapped "Don't listen to him!"

Damian demanded "What is going on?!?!"

Ray choked "We're hunting his herd," before collapsing, whimpering with pain. His eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted.

Damian looked up at Diego. "So that's why you were… You _traitor!_"

"What?!"

"Let me get this straight. You betrayed your herd and now you're letting us hunt them down?!"

"Yes…" Diego reluctantly admitted, closing his eyes and waiting for the inevitable yell for Akira or the blow to his body. Instead, Damian whirled around and pounced on Lars.

"Wake up!"

Lars was almost instantly conscious, and he immediately asked "What's going on?"

"Diego's a part of the herd we're tracking!"

"No way," Lars took a step back, his face hardening. "You betrayed them?"

Betray. That word again. Diego groaned out loud. "Let me explain before you condemn me anymore!"

"Yes, because somebody who would just leave his friends and then agree to go and kill them is worth listening to!"

"It's not like that! Look, my herd… Look, my original pack went to kill them, and I helped the mammoth and the sloth to get away from them. Ever since, we've been together, and the other mammoth had a kid a couple of weeks ago. I lost control around the kid, and I attacked her.. I don't know what happened then, but when I came back around to my senses, I was here! I don't know what to do!"

"Shut up, for one!"

All three sabres whipped around. Silver's eyes were glowing slits in the night, and her voice was no more than a whisper. "Keep quiet, otherwise you'll wake everyone up!"

Diego groaned again, sliding into a lying position. "Great, just great…"

"Look, Diego, there are three ways out of your situation. You can leave us and never see us again, and take your herd out of the area. You can stay with us and kill them. Or you can leave both of us behind and live by yourself or with a new pack or herd. But you can't have both us and them, not while Alexia and Shi are alive. No matter how good your intentions are, they'll never live with a traitor, or let another loss happen in this pack!"

Damian and Lars prowled around so that they were standing behind Sliver, in an arrowhead formation. Silver kept talking, almost ignoring the other two, her voice gentle. "They don't mean to be like that, but they are. Those are the only choices you've got."

Lars asked quietly "What are you going to do?"

Diego closed his eyes and thought deeply for a few moments. In the end, there was only one choice he could make, wasn't there?

Clearing his throat, he said quietly "I'll leave."

"Your herd or us?" Damian demanded.

Diego looked up into their eyes, and told them.


	9. Leaving

**Ƭ****ħє ŞąЬяє'****ƨ**** Şħąmє**

Chapter Nine: Leaving

Diego stalked slowly through the night.

His paw had healed enough for him to walk, and it only twinged slightly now as he put weight on it. Other than that, it barely bothered him. What _was _bothering him were the choices he'd made.

He'd left the pack. But he wasn't brave enough to go straight back to the herd.

_Terrified hazel eyes gazing up… _

Diego shuddered. No, going directly back to the herd and hoping to be accepted as one of them again was out of the question. Besides, if Akira and her pack was aiming for the herd in their next hunt… What could he do? Saving one child from a pack had been disastrous enough; saving a whole herd would be suicide. What could he do?

There was a chance he could go back to the pack. Say that he'd decided against doing what he was currently doing. But that would leave him in his previous dilemma; he'd have to attack the herd. If he went back to the herd, he'd be attacked by the pack.

_Think, Diego, think. _

Out of nowhere, something that Soto had once said jumped into his head. Completely random; and completely welcome.

_Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted. Relax, Diego. Let your instincts take hold. Then strike. _

Diego let out a low, bitter laugh. He'd betrayed one pack, he'd betrayed a herd, and yet here he was, listening to the ghost of his original pack leader. Shaking his head slightly, he let his mind wander, then settled into a loping run towards what he had once called his family.

***

It's hard to realize, sometimes, that even though everything may have changed for you in your life, that other people have moved on with theirs. Diego reflected on that as he watched the herd from the secure location of what he called his 'lair'. It was about twenty meters away from the herd; close enough so that they couldn't sense him, but he could sense them. Convenient. It also meant that he was on his home ground; he knew every shred of land in a one-mile radius, with his lair as the epicentre.  
Including the dwelling of a certain herd nearby…

Diego shook his head, blocking out _that _particular thought, and pointedly ignoring the hunger he could feel biting inside his body. He stretched and laid down on the rough floor of his lair, pricking his ears up and listening to snatches of a conversation on the wind. A conversation that he would have once given anything to be a part of, and now only wished he couldn't hear.

***

The herd should have been asleep. In fact, everything in Diego's mile-radius ought to have been asleep.  
So why could he still hear conversation?

Slipping quietly out of his lair, he stalked through the twilit night, hoping against hope that the pack hadn't arrived…

***

Ever had one of those moments where the world just seems to utterly and completely freeze? Yeah. Diego was having one of those. Concerning a sabre a few years younger than him, and rather good- looking. She was also keeping the herd awake with a story about her trying to catch a baby bird Dodo when she was just a baby. That story was keeping the herd in stitches of laughter, while the storytelling was sitting very confidently in the middle of them, velvet eyes glittering in the night.  
And Diego was furious.  
He _knew _where that sabre had had to have come from; he knew what she was trying to do; and by the way she'd entranced the _whole damn herd_, they wouldn't believe him!

_Think, Diego, think._

_What the hell are you supposed to do now?_


	10. The Hunt

**Ƭ****ħє ŞąЬяє'****ƨ**** Şħąmє**

Chapter Ten: The Hunt

The pack was tense.

Each sabre had a unique way of preparing for the strike at the end of a hunt; the finishing move in a long series of preparations that had taken weeks to accomplish. But the hour before the true hunt began was the hardest to deal with. The raging hunger, the enhanced instincts, the sharp movements… They were all tense.

Akira was lying in a hunter's position, her eyes locked on the distant horizon, barely breathing. Her mind was moving with rapid speed; conjuring up strategies, killing off ideas, imagining, wondering, deciding, estimating, calculating, thinking, thinking, thinking…

Silver was beside her, motionless, her whole body frozen. Only her eyes were moving, scanning the land around them, mentally plotting the route back to the herd. Her hunger was outweighing the gentler streak in her, and low snarls were escaping her throat.

Shi was relentlessly pacing around the perimeter of the pack's territory, a tight spiral that would leave him back in the middle of the pack, before he started moving outwards again. His moves were sharp and jerky, fighting back the adrenaline that he would need for the fight to take down the mammoths.

Damian and Lars were locked into a wrestling match, burning spare energy, not-so-playfully snapping and biting at each other. More often than not, their intention was to cause pain. Slowly, their sanity was slipping away, instincts taking over, preparing for the hunt.

Ray, the last member of the pack, was curled around the base of a tree in a tight coil of quivering energy. He was pawing the air, claws out, eyes narrowed to glowing slits. The ferocity that had led him to kill his family was inherent in him now; his body clearly ready for the kill that was about to come up.

The last vestiges of light finally faded from the sky. The lonely moon bathed the landscape in an eerie light, darkness ruling the sky.

Moving slowly, the pack gathered at the eastern peak of their territory, gazing through the black woods. Everything seemed to be frozen in silence, one of those moments that seems to stay for an eternity. Nothing moved, nothing breathed. Glittering eyes pierced the darkness, and then the scent of meat drifted through the woods.

Unanimously, the pack let go of sanity and let instinct rule in its place. Eyes glowing, muscles flowing, they slipped through the woods like smoke in the air. Unreachable, untouchable, and utterly unstoppable.

***

The herd were all asleep. After Alexia's story, an inexplicable need to _sleep _had just come over all of them, literally knocking them out. Now the only person conscious in their dwelling was the sabre herself, her glittering eyes now emerald with savage hunger. She was holding herself in check, keeping herself away from the sweet, sweet scents that drifted from their sleeping bodies. They'd wake up in mere minutes now, but after that, they'd never see the light of day again. The two possums were stirring restlessly, and Alexia bared her fangs in a horrible grin.  
So intent was she on keeping herself under control, she didn't even notice that the sloth had disappeared.

***

Diego had slipped into the hollow when Alexia had been entering her hunter's trance; he knew from experience just how much you could miss out on in those few seconds of readjustment. He'd leapt into the middle of the pack, totally silent, grabbed Sid in his mouth, and leapt straight back out. His timing had been perfect; Alexia had woken back up to herself just as he returned to his lair. Now he was gently hitting the sloth with his paw, slowly waking him up.  
"Ugh – unnh – whaa – _Diego?!_"

Diego hissed "Be quiet! Listen, we need to talk!"

"Nuh-huh," Sid said defiantly. "Not after what you did. You're a _bad _person. Bad tigey-wigey. Baaaad…"

Diego blinked. The first part of that statement had made sense. The second part – he sounded like he was still asleep. He asked "What are you on about?"

"Alexia said that you're bad. You're bad. Bad, bad, bad."

Diego gritted his teeth. "Alexia. She's your new sabre pal, huh?"

"Yup. She's my sabre p-p-pal."

Diego narrowed his eyes. "What on earth did she do to you…?"

Sid ignored the question, instead getting up and starting to walk out of the cave. "She has pretty eyes. Really pretty. Really, really, really pretty…"

Diego let out a low gasp, mentally berating himself for not realizing before. "She's the ambush! She hypnotized you!"

Sid had already vanished though, wandering back down the hill towards the pack, eyes crossed and unfocused, walk swaying and zigzagging. Diego shook his head in incredulous amazement, following his one-time friend to the outskirts of the herd's dwelling, where he stopped, watching the herd slowly stir in their sleep. Sid began to wake Manny up, probably to tell him that Diego was back in the area – but that wasn't Diego's concern at the moment.

He could see them.

The pack.

They were here, and ready to kill.


	11. Fight

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: _Durant's name has been changed to Ray. All previous chapters have also been revised. Happy Easter!!!

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**Ƭħє ŞąЬяє'ƨ Şħąmє**

Chapter Eleven: Fight

Diego's first reaction to the threat of the pack was pure sabre; his claws extended and he began to snarl, a warning sound deep in his throat. His eyes narrowed to glowing emerald slits, piercing the darkness around the herbivores. The sabre pack were lurking there, prowling restlessly around the edge of the edge of the clearing. Alexia was still sitting primly in the middle of the dazed animals, her gaze locked on the sky above.

Diego lowered himself to the ground, crouching and watching intently, waiting for any of the others to make a move. If even one of them moved, he'd attack them. For the first time in the last six months, he was focused. He knew exactly what he had to do and when he had to do it.

Time passed, agonizingly slowly, and a light snow began to fall. Diego blinked, straining to see through both snow and darkness, when something hit him from behind and he lost his balance, falling into the middle of the herd's clearing. He immediately snapped back up to his feet, whirling around to see who had hit him.

A smug-looking Shi landed lightly behind him, looking totally casual except for the madness in his eyes. Ray took a wary step back, butting into a warm body behind him. He spun back around, meeting Silver's liquid grey eyes, the same insanity glowing from them as from her brother's.

There was an unspoken law in the sabre world; no two unallied packs or sabres could share a meal. If one pack had staked out their prey and another sabre or pack tried to defend their right to it, it was a fight to the death.

Lars and Damian slowly started circling the now-trapped sabre, both of them softly snarling. Akira and Ray were nowhere to be seen. Diego growled threateningly, backing up against a dazed Manny.

_Manny… Forgive me… _

And with that one last thought, he threw himself directly – at – Damian!

The startled twin let out a shocked whimper as Diego painfully collided with him, knocking him off-balance and flat onto his back. Lars immediately went to help his brother, but just as Diego had predicted, the twin's twisted paw was more of a hindrance than a help when it came to a fight. Shi leapt at Diego, bashing him out of the way, leaving him open to Silver's not-so-tender embrace. She slashed him across his back, leaving five bleeding wounds, and he howled in pain, twisting away in an attempt to escape it and her. In that second he had of clear vision, he saw three things.

Alexia was sitting up where Diego had been moments before, watching the fight with a disinterested look. Alexia was beside her, tightly keeping herself in check, waiting for an opportunity to strike without hurting or hindering any of her pack members.

And then there was Ray… Under cover from the fight, he'd sneaked around to where Peaches was sitting, soundly asleep. Now he was salivating, hot spit dripping down his gleaming white fangs. Now he was tilting her throat back, sliding out his claws and about to slit it.

Diego felt a sickening sensation of horror sweep through him, and ignoring all the others, he ran straight at Ray. He vaguely felt all sense of reason leave him, replaced by terror and an overwhelmingly protective instinct. Everything sped up.

_Diego was halfway through the air, claws extended – _

_Ray's paw was going closer and closer to Peaches' throat – _

_Diego was too far away, too far away – _

_Ray's paw touched her throat, and then – ! _


	12. Return

This chapter is dedicated to DiegoReedemedLover, debit13 and Xx Falcon's Eye xX for their reviews. Thanks, guys!

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**Ƭħє ŞąЬяє'ƨ Şħąmє**

Chapter Twelve: Return 

_Diego was halfway through the air, claws extended – _

_Ray's paw was going closer and closer to Peaches' throat – _

_Diego was too far away, too far away – _

_Ray's paw touched her throat, and then – ! _

The world seemed to slow down, everything becoming blindingly clear, enough for Diego to see Peaches' eyes open, become filled with terror, and Ray's paw agonizingly, bit by bit, begin to slide across her neck. One scarlet drop of blood began to run down her throat, and then Diego collided with him. The force of the hit was enough to knock Ray flying out of the way, his small size nothing compared to the ferocity and strength of Diego. The adrenaline rush the older sabre was on was dizzying; sheer energy and power that he didn't even know he had was flowing through his body. Never before had he felt so close to death and so alive at the same time. Not while fighting dinosaurs, not while hanging over a pit of lava, not while half-drowning in an attempt to save the possums… Never.

With a terrifying snarl, he positioned himself in front where Peaches had been. She'd now run and buried herself underneath Manny, trying to wake him up as best she could. The older mammoth was stirring, blinking, but still clearly dazed by Alexia's powers. The female sabre had leapt back down and was trying to dazzle him again – but his daughters pleas seemed to be getting through to him, rather than her unique power.

Silver prowled towards Diego, then slashed at him once she was close enough. He instinctively countered, ducking and swiping across her face, nearly taking out her eyes. She hissed in pain, before Lars jumped on top of her and then off her, using her as a springing board to get to Diego. Diego rolled to the side, Lars meeting the ground with a dull thud and sliding on the wet snow, losing control and thwacking into Ellie's side.

The female mammoth groaned and then woke up, taking in the situation immediately and trumpeting a screaming warning to the rest of the herd. The noise in itself was more than enough to wake up all of the animals and shake them out of their trance, but when they saw the sabre pack, the result was catastrophic.

Sid yelped with fear and ducked behind Manny. Manny planted himself in front of his daughter. Ellie, however, did a completely unexpected thing and _charged _the sabres!

Silver, Shi, Lars and Damian scattered like water, none of them wanting to get hit, before they simultaneously leapt on her, sharp teeth and claws ripping through her thick coat. Crash and Eddie literally swung into action, using Ellie's trunk as the swing. Crash landed on Shi; Eddie on Damian. The two of them began rodeoing the sabres, pulling at their fur and shrieking incoherent insults, generally doing their best to irritate the living daylights out of Shi and Damian. Lars blinked in shock, before a powerful trunk swept his lean body up and threw it into a rock wall. He dissolved into unconsciousness, and it seemed for a moment as though the battle may be swinging in favour of the herd.

Emphasis on _seemed. _

With a horrifying scream of rage, Akira launched herself from a high rocky peak at Ellie, landing on top of her head and biting through her thick coat, fangs piercing her throat. Ellie stiffened for a moment, before letting out a low sigh and sliding to the ground, dizzy already from shock and blood loss. Akira dragged her fangs through the body, leaving two meter-long trails of bleeding wound before jumping off the mammoth and yelling a command:

"REGROUP!"

As though a switch had been flicked, the pack stopped their fights, sprinting back into what looked like a pre-organized formation, conspicuous gaps where Ray and Lars should be. The herd clumsily tried to do the same, but the possums scurrying back to Ellie to check on her and Peaches shrieks of terror as she ran back to her mother effectively dissuaded any attempt.

That left Sid, Manny and Diego stood in the middle of the clearing, side-by-side.

Manny looked down his trunk at Diego, a wary look in his eyes, before Diego offered him a tired grin and said the two words which had been plaguing him for the last couple of weeks;

"_I'm sorry." _

Manny's expression melted into one of trusting understanding, and he didn't need to say anything before Diego understood that he was forgiven. That was all the time they had, though, before five very angry sabres attacked them.


	13. Interrupted

Thank you all so much for the reviews!!!

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**Ƭħє ŞąЬяє'ƨ Şħąmє**

Chapter Thirteen: Interrupted 

The three of them, the original herd members, stood their ground as they were attacked. It wasn't out of noble desire to kill themselves or look dramatic, but simple knowledge from experience; if you were running at a stationary object that didn't move, the odds were you were going to hurt yourself more than the object. If you were a sabre and you were going to attack said stationary object, unless you had enough strength or altitude to jump on top of it, the only way to do so would be from the front.

Diego, Sid and Manny backed instinctively into a circle. Diego was in the front, facing his former pack members. Manny was to the right, closest to Ellie, his eyes locked on her rather than the sabres. Sid was on the left, in the least danger, but as Silver closed in on him, he still acted as though he was in the most danger out of them all.

It was an eerie scene. A sloth, a mammoth, a redeemed sabre. Five hungry carnivores, just as lost now as they had been when they were in the underground. One wounded mother, a terrified daughter, two possums and the drifting, dizzying snow.

Even as the herd fought as best they could together against the pack, Ellie stirred and opened her eyes slightly, the first thing she saw being the worried faces of her two possum brothers. And even as she regained consciousness, they traded anxious and furious looks, before running back to distract the sabres as best they could. Peaches buried her little warm body in underneath her mothers, and Ellie wound her trunk over her daughter's eyes, keeping her close to her body and away from her blood.

The battle had taken a surprising turn. Silver was limping, blood dripping from her hindquarters, still being poked and prodded with dry sticks by Sid. Diego was in an incoherent argument with Akira and Shi even as he fought them, while Alexia and Damian were attacking Manny. The male mammoth had backed up so that he was protecting Ellie's body as best he could with his own bulk, erratically swinging his trunk and tusks, keeping the two at bay.

Diego, snarling, hissing, and gritting his teeth, was in the most trouble. He knew that the battle that was underway here was nothing, _nothing, _compared to what it would be if Akira decided to pull all her forces away and attack the mammoths. If she ordered that, he would be almost helpless to stop her. And he wasn't going to let that happen. So prancing and pouncing, he danced with her in a war to save his friend's lives, distracting her as best he could. Shi was the only problem in his plan. The older sabre was mimicking every move of his, counterattacking, riposting and parrying almost everything he could do. It was a moving stalemate, if that even made any sense.

Sid brandished his two sharp sticks at Silver, waving them threateningly in the air. She watched him in disbelief, unable to believe that a _sloth _was managing to actually _hurt _her, even though she was a _sabre_. He struck the two sticks together, sparks jumping off them, and they began to burn.

"Hah!" Sid yelled. "I have created – fire!"

It was one of those unbelievably awkward moments where you say something, thinking nobody's going to listen to you, and find that everybody is. All the sabres – Diego included– turned around, drawn by the lure of the flickering golden lights. Manny muttered "Uh-oh…" , and Akira was opening her mouth to snap a command, when a shockingly familiar voice cut through the night.

"RUDY!!!"

"_**Buck**_?!" the herd demanded unanimously, looking around wildly for the weasel. A stranger's laugh cut through the night.

"Oh, now _this _is interesting…"

The pack's ears went flat against their heads, before Akira gazed up at the figure standing beside Buck, on top of the hill.

"Raze…?"


	14. Instinct

Thank you for the reviews! On another note, it's my birthday today! Haha! -confetti in air and cookies to everyone who's favourited, alerted or reviewed!-

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**Ƭħє ŞąЬяє'ƨ Şħąmє**

Chapter Fourteen: Instinct

"**I was told, once… That sometimes, when life gets tough, you have to put it back into perspective. To remember that you are what you are, and you do what you have to do. If the moral question of what we do is ****right**** ever comes up… Just remember; if that were true, the balance of nature –predators and prey– well, that wouldn't exist now, would it?**

"**We're sabres. We are what we were born to be. Nothing is going to change us… not even death. We follow our instincts, no matter what they may be; we do what we have to live, even if that means taking other life in the process.**

"**A sabre's instincts are the honed reflexes of the heart's urges combined with the mind's logic. They give us power, they give us strength. They give us talents other creatures can only dream of. A sabre without instincts is a sabre without life. They are our everything.**

"**If your instincts told you to do this… I forgive you."**

_Those were the last words of a great and powerful sabre, _Diego mused thoughtfully, his eyes sliding closed and his body beginning to shake with fatigue from the last few hours. _A sabre who was everything to me – my father, my brother, my teacher, my tormentor, my leader, and my friend. A sabre who taught me everything I knew, and genuinely cared about me – even though he was grieving for his lost pack members. _

_A sabre who I'd left to die as he lay in the blood-stained snow, injured fatally by the large, sharp icicles which had pierced his body as he'd attacked a mammoth... A mammoth who had just a few hours before, saved my life… _

|###|**  
**

There are little moments in life that are often overlooked or sometimes simply forgotten – they're the moments where everyone falls silent, united in awe or respect or sorrow, emotions spilling over the mask that's kept locked into place….the moments where friendships can be made and shattered … the moments between sleeping, trapped in a dream and awakening, to find that the dream was real….

At that precise second in time, the second after which Buck (triumphantly astride a melancholy Rudy) and the sabre had announced themselves, one of those little moments had occurred. The pack were caught inside an unbelieving trance, astounded beyond belief and unable to move. The herd were backed into corners, nursing wounds and grimly hoping for the best to come of the new development. Even their joy at seeing Buck again was diminished by the terror that came with seeing yet another sabre and yet another dinosaur.

That moment was shattered, gentle whispers floating across snow-stained glass, as Akira murmured "Raze…?"

"Yes," the other sabre confirmed quietly, stirring from his bodyguard-like post beside Rudy to pad softly to the edge of the small cliff. Buck patted Rudy once on the head, sliding off him and joining his new-found friend there, wise enough for once not to say anything.

Almost silently, Akira mumbled "I… thought… you… were dead…"

"I'm indestructible," Raze answered solemnly, before an infectious, mischievous smirk grew on his face. "Haven't you learnt that by now?" he teased gently, easily leaping down from the cliff. There was something in the grace with which he did that – something so completely relaxed – that it was almost like all the fight seemed to drain out of the pack. Every visible member became less tense, the thrilling bloodlust which they'd had a moment before simply fading away. There was no great group hug; no screaming and yelling of joy; just quiet and incredibly grateful acceptance of the fact that their pack leader was alive – and with that simple reassurance, everything seemed to become much less daunting. The skittish energy which had possessed the pack was now gone, leaving in its place silent relief.

As the pack relaxed, the herd relaxed, somehow sensing that the fight that they had been holding a second ago was over.

It was a pity that that peace was destroyed within a minute of its arrival.

Forgotten until now, Ray had reappeared. And unlike the other sabre members he had arrived with, who had calmed down almost completely at Raze's entry, he had had the ultimate opposite reaction.

Ray now had yet another rival who threatened his existence, another adult male who disregarded him as nothing more than a runt. There was a dinosaur standing on the ledge of a mouth-watering mammoth's dwelling, and there was a baby mammoth – tender, succulent, and oh-so-lovely– sitting blindly not even six meters away.

Overwrought with uncontrollable energy, adrenaline pushed to the max and nerves stretched taut, he'd simply snapped. Following blind instinct, he'd shut his eyes and jumped into the unknown. But his claws had reached warm hair, and his nose was picking up the scent of fresh blood and tender meat, and he could almost _taste _her…

|###|**  
**

Ellie screamed as Ray launched himself towards her and her child, unable to react in time to save either of them. Even as terrible guilt and pain forced her heart to rip apart, Ray tore Peaches from her trunk and fled into the night. And even as Diego felt ready to collapse, even as the rest of the pack remained spellbound by Raze's return, he spun around and threw what strength he had left into perusing the one who had stolen his best friend's daughter. He didn't even know how he found the energy to do so… But he did.

Maybe it was just instinct.

|###|**  
**

There was no need for any discussion among the pack. Just as they were together again – just as they were reunited – and one of them had turned traitor. A member who had been with them for months on end, who had shared their meals and slept with their bodies pressed against each other for warmth, had stolen an innocent meal… who was no longer just a meal. It was simple instinct; react to an attack.

Just instinct.

|###|**  
**

Buck was back on Rudy, riding him with all the skill of an insane weasel, perusing the sabres. Crash and Eddie were beside him, having scampered up to join him. Sid was there too, barely clinging on. Manny was at Ellie's side, caring for her as best he could, unable to move as fast as any of the others and therefore blindly trusting Diego to return his daughter…

_Instinct._


	15. Bond

So... tired...

Hope you enjoy chapter... Don't think it went too well... so sleepy... thank you all for reviews and the wishes... oh man i need to sleep... why am i even still typing this forenote...?

ily all... take care wherever you are in the world, you're awesome people...

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**Ƭħє ŞąЬяє'ƨ Şħąmє**

Chapter Fifteen: Bond

The surreal pursue went on.

It had stopped snowing five minutes ago, some clouds slowly clearing away, moonlight shining down on the ice-cold scenery below. Swift shadows flicked through the light, before vanishing back into the pools of darkness.

For the last ten minutes, a chase had been held between the pack and Ray. Buck had initially tried to get Rudy to follow the others, but the not-exactly-obedient dinosaur had complied by circling the dwelling six times, before sitting down and refusing to move. Now there were just nine sabre-tooth tigers flying through the night, one trying desperately to drag a baby mammoth along with it, the others trying to kill him.

Traitors had to pay, after all…

None of them knew where they were and none of them knew where they were going. They were shaking with the cold and some with fatigue, but they were still working as a pack, Diego having seamlessly slipped into what would have usually been Ray's place. But now the young tiger was at the centre of the chase, all attention focused on him and his captive's warm scent.

And still the chase continued.

After who knew how long, Diego could sense the other scents of his pack fading away, the smells becoming weaker with every painful lope forward he took. He could barely keep going, and yet, he couldn't stop. Manny's forgiveness; Sid's crack about creating fire; Buck and Rudy's reappearance…

Ellie's daughter…

There was some weird bond there; something utterly unique. He'd _been _there when she'd given birth… when she'd introduced her daughter to the world… When Peaches' had taken her first breath of air and opened her eyes... _He had been there. _

Diego tried to stop suddenly, realizing he'd fallen into another reverie – and this one might cause his death. He was drowning in shadows, about two meters away from a large ice-covered river that spread out from the white snowy land. Slipping and sliding, he managed to lose about half his momentum before he felt all four paws give way as he hit the slick ice.

The moonlight reflected off the frozen liquid, imbuing it with a beautiful, shining silver quality. Ray was standing in the middle of the river, trying to keep his balance on the ice and failing tragically. Having had slightly more experience in this area, Diego spread out his claws and dug them into the ice, before retracting them, moving forward slightly, extending them again, grabbing hold, waiting, then moving forward. It was a slow process, but one infinitely safer than running a million miles an hour on the spot – like Ray was now – and going nowhere except down, hitting the freezing ice.

Peaches was having much better luck than both of the sabres, but only because of her far more unfortunate situation. She was pressed up against the rocks… that … started … lining … the … cliff … edge …

_Key words: CLIFF EDGE! _

Diego froze completely, taking in and retaking in the situation. If the tiny mammoth moved even a meter, she would fall to her death. Ray was trying to get to her, but falling over every other moment. Still, the other sabre was a lot closer than Diego was to Peaches, leaving only one option left to his fatigued mind.

Retracting his claws yet again, he pushed himself with a hind leg, flattening his body against the ice and sliding towards Peaches. He started travelling faster across the terribly slippery surface, reaching her before Ray even had a chance to process what was going on.

Then there was just the problem of stopping.

Hooked claws screeched through the ice as Diego used them to drag himself to a stop, panting, in front of Peaches. She whimpered softly, gently touching his nose with her trunk. He whispered urgently "You need to get away from the edge, alright?"

She nodded as best a mammoth could, scuttling back off the riverbank.

Now Diego and Ray were on their own, standing as best they could on the treacherous ice. Ray's glowing eyes were locked onto Diego's as the two sabres carefully manoeuvred into better positions. A cloud drifted over the moon, and by the time it had moved on and let the moon's light shine again, the two sabres could have been carved out of the ice they stood on.

Silver diamonds of radiance reflected off the frozen liquid, two black silhouettes of predatory death the only thing marring the platinum beauty of the night…


	16. Choices

A/N: I'm really not sure what you guys are going to think of this chapter... It's kind of controversial. I debated for a while about whether or not to post it, and I only decided to because... well... it's so controversial! I really, really, need to know whether or not I can use this style of writing and make it fit a fic like this! So, reviews would be incredibly appreciated, for this chapter if not any others.

Thanks so much, and hope you guys don't hate it...

So worried about what you're going to think... argh...

*cries*

Hate it when you get a new muse and it takes over everything...

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**Ƭħє ŞąЬяє'ƨ Şħąmє**

Chapter Sixteen: Choices 

Cyclicality and irony had never been two things that Diego had appreciated in life, and yet he could only let out a low, helpless laugh as he realized the bizarre parody which he'd worked himself in to. After a furious fight, he'd cornered Ray on a high pinnacle of rock, stretching out above the frozen waterfall. Now the fuming sabre was trapped with a nasty choice awaiting him: death by sabre, or death by jumping.

A choice which Diego had witnessed somebody take once before.

A choice which had started the whole chain of events which he was now an imbued part of.

A choice which had been made in this very location.

He couldn't believe he hadn't realized it before, but the truth was staring at him, right in the eyes. The landscape had changed almost to an extent where it wasn't recognizable, thanks to Nature's merciless rule, but the bittersweet nostalgia overwhelming him couldn't and didn't lie. It hit him, bringing an aching sense of confusing emotion as he reflected on everything that had changed since the first moment he had stood there. The human mother had chosen to sacrifice herself in an attempt to save her baby – the baby who Diego had abandoned his pack over and taken back to his father.

And he was here again. Alone with someone who was about to die, whether by his paw or their own. Diego had no delusions about what would happen if he decided to let Ray live; the younger tiger would attack him all over again, or escape back to try and hunt down Peaches again. Maybe his pack would even forgive him, although that seemed highly doubtful…

"Why?" spat Ray, nervously backing up another step as Diego oh-so-slowly advanced. "What would make you chose a herd over your pack?"

Diego took another stately step forward, and Ray took another reluctant step back, before slipping off the edge with a yell. His two front legs managed to catch the rock just before he fell totally, and Diego leaned over the cliff, hissing vehemently "Because in a herd, I would save you."

Ray's face contorted in fear, but he didn't scream as the weight of his body slowly dragged his paws along the rock, until the only part of him still attached to the rock was his claws. For a single moment, locked forever in Diego's memory, he hung suspended off the ledge, before he closed his eyes and retracted his claws. And as gravity took its course, as Ray fell through the darkness to the silver ice below, so did all of the guilt and pain that Diego had been carrying with him.

As Pinky's mother had fallen, so did Ray.

As the initial gesture of love and hope had lived, the hatred and rage which had gone with the sabre did not.

Life was a parody of itself, linking into an infinity symbol and repeating time and time again. Never were two moments the same, but neither were two loops of life's endless game of chance and fate. One human mother had managed to inadvertently change his life; one sabre had deliberately tried to change it back to how it was 'supposed' to be. Both of them had fallen and died in the river below; both of them would forever be engraved in his memory; but only one of them had succeeded. She had introduced him to alien concepts - love, forgiveness, sacrifice, redemption, grief and shame. None of those were familiar to a sabre, no matter the situation.

Yet for mammoths, humans, and every other race that was preyed upon for its 'weakness', they were common.

For the sake of pride, Diego had been content to be in a pack. For the sake of love for his newfound friends and all-encompassing shame when he compared himself -deadly, lying, accurate, intelligent and a _killer_- to them -fumbling, bumbling, moralistic, honest and caring- he _loved _being in a herd.

The truth in being a sabre was that you had to kill to survive. That was what nature had designed you for. The truth of being any other non-predatory animal was that you were going to be killed, but in return for that harsh ending that would almost surely be recieved, you were given concepts beyond that a normal predator could comprehend.

Peace… the idea of safety… happiness … joy … love …

Why would a killer ever need to love?

Diego's life had taken an astounding twist and journey as he'd travelled with Sid and Manny, protecting them and helping them, for the reason that he honestly could not understand them – or at least, not until he realized exactly how his 'prey' acted.

Not until what was supposed to be his next meal saved his life.

Once that had happened, a whole new foreign world had opened to him, filled with emotions that he could barely understand. Over time, they became more natural, until he could safely say he knew what the meanings of compassion and kindness were.

But he had never known the ignorance that comprised a sabre's life until then, and ashamed of that, he had turned away from his own race and lived with a herd. He was ashamed of the fact that what basically defined a sabre's life was their encompassing apathy towards their prey. Their prey; his friends. Ashamed of the fact he knew that he could never measure up to the simplistic happiness that dictated the life of a herd creature, and yet he could never fully go back to being a sabre.

So, ashamed at his own inability to exist peacefully in either race, he had simply chosen to hold his head high and live in a world where shades of grey took the place of black-and-white rules, where you could kill to eat, but only the weak or dying, and only because you knew you had no other choice. Where you could protect your friends against your own race, and _know _it was right because you knew what it was like to truly and honestly love them, and know that you would die to defend them…  
And where you could seek that elusive ideal that had so far slipped from his grasp of comprehension; _happiness. _

Calmly and surely, Diego turned around and walked back down off the ridge, heading back to his herd.


	17. End

Um, yeah, I don't really have any excuses. I'm sorry. I'm very, very, very, very, very, sorry. Forgive me? Please?

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**Ƭħє ŞąЬяє'ƨ Şħąmє**

Chapter Seventeen: End

Diego rejoined the herd and the pack with a looming sense of finality. The pack didn't question him on what had happened to Ray; they simply understood what had to be done. So did the herd, to some extent, even though that didn't stop Crash and Eddie from constantly bugging him for details for the following three weeks.

Manny and Ellie hugged him as best they could with their trunks as he returned Peaches to them, and Sid wrapped his short, stumpy arms around his neck – much to the amusement of the pack, but that was the difference between the two.

Something that only Raze seemed to understand.

The other sabre, who in all truth, did look uncannily like Diego, had silently watched the return, eyes glittering. Akira and Shi stood behind him, with Lars and Damian behind them, in arrowhead formation. Silver would have been standing beside Ray, at the back of the pack, but …

But.

They weren't going to speak of that fact.

Even though it echoed of a frightening sabre-like trait, to ignore the past and plan for the future, they weren't going to speak of that fact. Instead, all that occurred was that before any significant conversation could take place, Buck burst in again, with Rudy in tow. Clambering aboard the dinosaur's head, he stood there triumphantly, and announced "Well, that went well, didn't it?"

Diego put a paw to his face, shaking his head slightly in wry amusement. Raze chuckled slightly, and the herd just laughed out loud.

"So, here we are, three cultures from mysterious lands, brought together by the great powers of fate – "

"Cut the crap!" Raze roared playfully, and Buck bowed in acquisition, but continued:

"And brought apart by the chaos in which we live –"

"Give it a rest, Buck!" Diego called.

" – Even though those around me have no understanding or appreciation of my artistic talent – "

Buck was crash-tackled to the ground by Eddie and Crash, who tickled him mercilessly for a moment, cutting off whatever he was going to say. He got the better of them both in less than a minute, holding them upside down by the ankles and tying their tails together, before draping them over Ellie's trunk. Agilely reclaiming Rudy's head, he cleared his throat and went on.

"In short, _barbarians_, Rudy and I are here to tell you something. Obviously, we can get back into the Underworld. Any time we want. Which means that the dinosaurs can get _out_. Soooo… Does anyone wanna help us out with sealing up the hole? This time, nobody will be trapped on the other side. I promiseee – whoa!"

Rudy chucked his head to the side, sending Buck flying. Hitting the snow with a frustrated growl, he stood up straight and continued his monologue from there. "So, in short, any volunteers?"

"I think you'll be just fine on your own," Manny told him, giving him a small and encouraging nudge with his trunk. "So, wanna take the dinosaur and get out of here?"

"Hey, don't be so hasty. One would think that you didn't _even __**miss **_me, and I know that's not true. Rightio?"

There wasn't any acknowledgement from the herd for a moment, before they started to laugh. Raze did as well, and even Shi smiled for a moment.

"So, that aside, seems to me that there might be a small problem with you guys? Something to do with the sabres," he tweaked Diego's ear, "trying to eat the herd, right?" He pulled Peaches' tail gently, and used her as a vault to get back up to Rudy, seeming to like the altitude adjustment. "_So_, I have a solution. No, no, don't thank me, just listen."

Raze jerked his head at the pack, and they circled around Rudy to listen, losing their arrowhead formation and concentrating on his words.

"If we only block half of the underworld up, and you guys get your _almighty leader, _as he assures me he is, back, you guys could have a sneakhole to get in and out from. There are packs of dinosaurs down there, vicious and crazy, and best of all, not intelligent. Kinda like Rudy."

He affectionately petted the dinosaur, who groaned slightly and shifted his weight.

"So you don't have to worry about your next meal, and you can roam both worlds, and leave these guys in peace, yeah? Or protect them from whatever other packs are out there."

Akira, still acting as pack leader even though Raze had returned, turned away and quietly talked to Shi. The two conferred for a minute, before turning around again and looking quite serious.

"That works fairly well," Akira said, "But what happens about Diego?"

"Well, see, he can choose. You know. Go from one to another to another. Hang out with you, hang out with us, hang out with you, hang out with us. Easy, right?"

Raze glanced at Diego, a simple look that read _We'll talk. _

But the sabres were nodding, as were the herd, until Ellie piped up "What are you going to do?"

"Me?" Buck laughed wildly, insanely. "I'm going to have fun! I've got the best of both worlds, now, and even though Rudy can't go back home, he can sure still hang out with me up here! I just need to find that damn watermelon."

"Watermelon?" Sid asked.

"Yeah. We're engaged, and I can't find her anywhere! Have any of you seen her?"

"No," Damian answered before anyone else can.

"But," Lars said, trying and failing not to grin, "We did see some dodos. They might have kidnapped her."

"What?" Buck yelled, in mock fury. "We must rescue her! Come, everyone! Melona needs our help! Twins, lead the way!"

He spurred Rudy into action, and the reluctant dinosaur started trundling off, following the pack, who were following Damian. The herd glanced at each other, before shrugging and beginning to follow as well. They felt as though they should stick close to Rudy and the pack, so they could resolve any chance of the pack preying on them again.

At last, the only two animals in the clearing were Diego and Raze.

"Hello," Diego said uncertainly.

"Hello," Raze returned, equally uncertain, but looking far more comfortable than Diego did. "You belong to this herd, don't you?"

"I think so," Diego shrugged helplessly. "But I'm not sure."

"How did you all end up together? Must have been quite an adventure."

"You're telling me," Diego groaned. "It's a long story. Nobody knows all of it, not now that I abandoned the herd and went with your pack."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"How long do you think we have before they come back?"

"Knowing Damian and Lars' tracking skills? They'll get to the point in about fifteen minutes, then spend the rest of the hour tracking the dodos. Considering the fact that well… they're dodos, I'll say it'll take them about another half hour to actually get the watermelon, and then fifteen minutes back. So, we have time, if that's what you're asking."

So Diego told him.

Everything.

From the moment Soto ordered him to attack Manny and get the baby, to Sid's adventurous climb up the cliff, to the journey through the caves, to the ambush. From there, without stopping, he told the story of the meltdown, and how they had come across Ellie, Eddie, and Crash, and then, their adventure in the Underworld.

By the time he'd finished talking, his voice was hoarse, and Raze's expression was one of compassionate sympathy. Rare to see on a sabre, it still made Diego feel better.

"Do you think I'm a bad person?" Diego hesitantly asked at the end, and Raze shrugged, sabre-style.

"No. I think you made a bad choice in attacking Peaches, but if you couldn't hunt, it's understandable. As for the rest, it was out of your control. I admit, I don't know how you could have turned on Soto, but… It's almost understandable. He was annoying, anyway."

"You knew him?" Diego gaped.

"He was my father."

Diego stopped dead, staring at Raze, who shrugged again. "It explains a lot, don't you think?"

And it did. That was the epic irony of it. The times Soto treated Diego as a son rather than as a pack member; the special treatment, the look in his eyes when he'd died…

"Why did you leave him?"

Raze smirked. "I found a pack of my own. It would've been around three weeks before you joined, because I saw you hunting with them a little while later. Why be part of someone else's pack when you can run your own? Of course, Akira owns the pack now of course, but we'll see how that pans out."

"Can I join you sometimes?"

"For hunting? Of course. It means you can eat with us and hang out, if that's what you want, you get to go back to the Underworld and explore it, and call this your home."

"You have a strange attitude for a sabre."

"So do you, Diego."

"I know – believe me, I know – but you know my history. All I know about you is Soto, the pack, and that you were trapped underground. What else is there?"

"While I was underground, I had several broken bones. I heal ridiculously fast, which is why I'm up and moving now, but for a few days, I was completely and utterly reliant on Buck for food. I learnt a lot in those days. Prey has thoughts and feelings too. So when I could move again, I'd learnt not to take anything for granted. Coming back and seeing this makes me wonder if it wasn't all planned or something. These kinds of coincidences are extremely rare."

"Again, I know. But considering my luck – this is almost a normal episode in my life for me."

Raze laughed softly. "Fair enough. But the invitation to join us is open anytime."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you."

Seven sabres streaked through the night, noses to the ground and paws flying over the snow. They were determined, focused. Their reflexes were on edge, and they were ready to take down their prey. Eyes glittering in concentration, they sensed a change in scent, and unanimously swung to the right. Their prey would not escape.

"There!" Shi gasped, and the other sabres raised their heads to glimpse the prey in the distance, trying to flee but failing. Spurred on by the sighting, they increased their pace, and burst out into the open, to see their prey.

A dodo, carrying a melon.

Buck and Rudy were underneath it, Buck frantically trying to jump and reach the melon. The dodo running faster and faster, and Crash and Eddie were using all of their skill to rodeo it back to Rudy. Sid was running beneath beside, and Manny and Ellie were herding it in from each side.

Sabres from the north. Dinosaur and weasel from the south. Mammoths from east to west. Approaching at a very fast speed.

"Melona!" Buck cried dramatically. "Why must you elude me so?"

And those were the last words anyone heard before, concentrating on their prey, they all collided into each other.

_THWACK! _

A wildly giggling dodo, still with its melon, staggered off into the horizon, leaving a laughing and groaning heap of animals behind. Rudy was pinned down on the ground by a pack of sabres, two mammoths, two possums and a weasel. The sabres were strewn all over each other, and Sid had somehow ended up sitting on top of Raze. Crash had landed on Lars, Eddie on Damian. Shi had Buck for a hat, and Silver was partially squashed under Ellie's trunk.

The wildly giggling dodo, now not so wild or giggling, staggered back to the crash site as Alexia and Peaches tugged, pulled and pushed it. Peaches eventually managed to grab the melon, and Alexia gently threw the bird into the air, leaving it to, once more, stagger off into the horizon.

Peaches giggled as she saw her parents on the ground, and called to them "Get up, get up, you have to get up!"

Running to them, she lightly touched them on their trunks, a loving kiss, and then looked mischievously at Silver. "Aunty Silver! Bet you can't catch me!"

Silver opened one eye and gazed at the small mammoth, smiling sweetly. "Really?"

"Yep!"

"Come on then!"

Silver leapt to her paws and playfully chased Peaches, who screamed with laughter. Damian got to his paws and joined in, followed by Lars, and Crash and Eddie. The other mammals just lay dazedly on the ground and watched the six scamper around, before Raze and Diego pulled themselves up. Ellie and Manny got up as well, and after much coaxing, Sid eventually managed to get Rudy to stand up again. The groggy dinosaur had accustomed himself to living as Buck's servant by now, and in truth, didn't actually mind it. He still got to eat, and the adventures that he'd joined in on by now had worn away any seeds of resentment.

Buck fondly looked at his watermelon, before bowing grandly to Alexia. "Thank you, my dear."

"Anytime," she returned, winking at him, before joining the others in their game. Now the whole pack was involved, as well as the herd, chasing each other in circles and falling over their own paws in a dizzying display of contentment.

Buck hugged his watermelon, stroking it, and placed a kiss on its smooth side. "Melona, we're going to have a fantastic time," he murmured, and then Sid tapped him on the shoulder.

"You're it!"

"What?" Buck yelled. "What nonsense is this?" Cackling evilly, he dropped the melon and ran after Sid, catching him easily and tapping him.

"You're it now, you lil' sloth!"

Sid whirled around and got Damian, who in turn caught Eddie. Eddie caught Crash, who caught Ellie, who caught Akira, who caught Diego, and so the game continued.

The melon and the past lay forgotten in the dawn's early light.


	18. Epilogue

**Epilogue **

Diego sat alone on his clifftop, overlooking the herd. He was in the same position he had been the day he'd attacked Peaches, so long ago. He was calm where he sat, soaking up the warm sunshine that had come with the first thaw. The snow had begun to melt, leading to another one of Sid's swimming schools and waterslide arenas. Peaches, Manny and Ellie were having an afternoon nap, snuggled together in a hairy heap. Peaches was between the two adults, her face a mask of happiness even as she slept. Crash and Eddie were with Sid at the swim school, making as much mischief as possumly possible.

The pack had returned to the Underworld, Rudy and Buck with them. They still visited from time to time, but mostly at night, so that they wouldn't alarm any of the other animals. The herd's neighbours had adjusted to one sabre living among them; having a fully-fledged pack was something none of them were ready for. But in any case, it had worked out. Everyone was happy in their own way, having accepted the events of the last few months as being completely over and in the past. The lessons had been learnt; the (heavily edited, courtesy of Sid) stories were already being retold to avid audiences - the proud sabre who had risked everything to defend his family...

Diego sighed to himself, stretching contentedly. The sun was warm, his stomach was full, a soft breeze was blowing, and the sound of laughter was drifting up from the pools of melting snow. Everything was as perfect as it could possibly be at that one moment in time. He rolled over into a more comfortable position, and with a last protective look at Peaches, closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep.

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**/\ THE END /\**

_I hope you enjoyed this. It's been a long story that's taken far too long to complete, but thank you all for sticking with me throughout it._

_I really can't tell you guys how much I've appreciated the reviews, as well as watching the hit count go up. As for those of you who favourite'd or added to your alert list but didn't review, thank you as well.  
_

_Wishing all of you the best with everything you're undertaking at the moment.  
_

_Good luck, and again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. _


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